Inspired by the long dark winters of Chicago, this exhibition focuses on the Sun at a time when it is missed the most, moments before springtime. As an object that is both illuminating and unseeable, the experience of the Sun is dominated by metaphor and myth. Were the Eye Not Sunlike channels the mythologization of the Sun and our relationship to its immeasurable power.

Beginning on April 1, a three-part video program will unfold on the artist-made live streaming platform ACRE TV. The program begins with Sunrise and its thematic associations of stillness, repetition, ritual, crispness and intimacy. Reflecting the course of the earth-bound day, the following program, High Noon, tracks the warmth and optical energy of a bright, full sky. Sunset, the final chapter, evokes impending darkness, melancholy, loss and reflection. The ACRE TV program includes work by sixty-two artists from around the world and will run for two months.

Sunrise: April 1 - April 19 | High Noon: April 19 - May 10 | Sunset: May 10 - May 31

Meanwhile, from April 3 - April 26, Fernwey Gallery presents the physical iteration of Were the Eye Not Sunlike with work in photography, sculpture and installation. Featuring Lauren Edwards, Assaf Evron and Danny Giles, the exhibition proposes its own strain of the solar metaphor, imagining the Sun as the object of theater and a distant, all-controlling dictator in the sky. The exhibition will also be accompanied by a printed publication designed by Mia Nolting and with essay contributions by Third Object and Danny Floyd.

ACRE TV is an artist-made livestreaming tele-vision network that features live and canned video, performances, durational works, and experimental broadcasts. It is run in the collaborative spirit of ACRE (Artists’ Cooperative Residency and Exhibitions). ACRETV.org

Fernwey is an artist-run gallery dedicated to promoting the work of emerging and mid-career artists in Chicago. Fernwey hopes to further Chicago's contemporary art conversation by providing platforms for exposure, exchange, and collaboration. fernwey.com

Third Object is a collaborative curatorial group that comprises Ann Meisinger, Raven Munsell, Elisabeth Smith and Gan Uyeda. thirdobject.net